2 research outputs found
Ghosts in the self-accelerating universe
The self-accelerating universe realizes the accelerated expansion of the
universe at late times by large-distance modification of general relativity
without a cosmological constant. The Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) braneworld
model provides an explicit example of the self-accelerating universe. Recently,
the DGP model becomes very popular to study the observational consequences of
the modified gravity models as an alternative to dark energy models in GR.
However, it has been shown that the self-accelerating universe in the DGP model
contains a ghost at the linearized level. The ghost carries negative energy
densities and it leads to the instability of the spacetime. In this article, we
review the origin of the ghost in the self-accelerating universe and explore
the physical implication of the existence of the ghost.Comment: Invited topical review for Classical and Quantum Gravity, 20 pages, 4
figure
Mass Screening in Modified Gravity
Models of modified gravity introduce extra degrees of freedom, which for
consistency with the data, should be suppressed at observable scales. In the
models that share properties of massive gravity such a suppression is due to
nonlinear interactions: An isolated massive astrophysical object creates a halo
of a nonzero curvature around it, shielding its vicinity from the influence of
the extra degrees of freedom. We emphasize that the very same halo leads to a
screening of the gravitational mass of the object, as seen by an observer
beyond the halo. We discuss the case when the screening could be very
significant and may rule out, or render the models observationally interesting.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, A contribution to the Proceedings of the
International Workshop on Cosmology and Gravitation, Peyresq 12, June 16-22,
2007, Peyresq, Franc